second chance
by envysparkler
Summary: Haunted by the demons of his past, the memories of teams he survived and the ghosts of the people he failed, Hatake Kakashi decides to take on another Genin team. But luck never seems to favor the infamous seventh team. – Kakashi, nextgen.


**a/n:** this is a new fic [yes, i know i have a shitload of other multichapters to finish but let's face it. procrastination is my best friend] and this plot was in my head for awhile, demanding to be written. ATTACK OF THE PLOT BUNNIES = scariest thing _ever_. This story stems from the fact that while sakura, naruto and sasuke may have had their happy reunion, kakashi would still be burdened with guilt.

**dedication:** to the difference between nightmares and illusions, the line between dreams and reality.

**disclaimer:** i am following the manga for the sole purpose of seeing a team seven reunion. how many are with me?

**summary:** Haunted by the demons of his past, the memories of teams he survived and the ghosts of the people he failed, Hatake Kakashi decides to take on another Genin team. But luck never seems to favor the infamous seventh team. – Kakashi, nextgen.

* * *

**second chance: **_**prologue**_

_no matter how cruel, cold, callous you may be – everyone deserves another chance_

* * *

"Kakashi." The quickness of the reply was expected, but disappointing, nonetheless. "What brings you here?" He would like to think that he'd gotten slow in his age, but the fact was that his students had surpassed him – in more ways than one.

"I scheduled a meeting, Hokage-sama," he replied, keeping his voice formal as he swung through the window, landing gracefully in the small room. It was lit brightly with the morning sun, showcasing the sparse appearance – it was a simple room: wooden floors, tiled ceiling and an old, rickety desk groaning under the stacks of paperwork.

For the office of the Hokage, it was a little too bare – but it was well known that the Rokudaime accomplished the majority of his paperwork while touring around his beautiful city.

"Wait a minute," blue eyes narrowed as he checked the clock, "You're actually _on time_, Kakashi?!" Kakashi blinked and sighed inwardly. No one ever let that go, his students least of all.

"Yes, Naruto, miracles are known to happen," he said in a dry tone, abandoning all formalities. If Naruto couldn't be bothered to call him Kakashi-sensei, he would not be acknowledging the title the blond idiot had slaved for eighteen years to get.

"Well, if you're actually on time, things must be serious," Naruto abandoned all pretense and leaned forward, his fingers automatically locking together in the signature spider shape that all Kages used. Kakashi had a theory that it was the hand sign to S-class jutsu that every other shinobi only dreamed about.

"Not that serious, no," Kakashi wondered how best to phrase his request, "The Fall term at the Academy is about to graduate, and I want a Genin team."

To describe Uzumaki Naruto's face as shocked would be the understatement of the century.

"Kaka-sensei," he breathed out, looking stunned. Kakashi inwardly smiled at the return of the honorific, "You – you want a…_another_ Genin team?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

Naruto managed to look petrified, nauseous, calculating, suspicious and overwhelmingly guilty all at the same time. Kakashi again wondered how a shinobi who expressed his emotions like an open book _ever_ managed to become Kage.

After a few seconds, Naruto took a deep breath and schooled his expression, retaining a look of mild curiosity, "If you don't mind me asking, Kakashi, what brought on this…_unexpected_ request?"

Kakashi couldn't tell him that it started with nightmares – vivid dreams, memory-like in their tangibility. Nightmares of Sasuke and Naruto at the Valley of End. Dreams of Sasuke's Chidori crackling behind Sakura and the poisoned kunai in the kunoichi's trembling hands. Visions of Sasuke's hands around Sakura's neck, visions of electricity arching through Naruto's back, visions of a Chidori and a Rasengan – one with the intention to kill.

"You already know the answer, Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied blandly.

Out of the three that had left him, Naruto understood him the best of all. Kakashi's contact with Sakura was limited – he avoided the hospital like the plague, preferring to get treated by the mednins on his team – and Sasuke…well, there was a reason he had joined ANBU and it wasn't for the money.

So it was only Naruto who knew the burdens he still carried and the guilt he still shouldered. Kakashi looked back at the past and saw only the failures that led him to this day. He broke up his old team, caused Obito to get crushed under falling rocks, and put a Chidori through Rin's heart. He destroyed his new team, praising the deranged Uchiha, ignoring an attention-starved Naruto, and allowing Sakura to continue on her downward spiral.

Naruto knew that Kakashi had gone to Tsunade after the war was over, asking for his old ANBU position, a position she was only too happy to give. Tsunade had known the pain of losing teammates and while Kakashi's team was still alive – they weren't _his_ team, not anymore.

Naruto slumped, aware that that was the best answer he'd get, "Sorry, Kakashi, but there aren't any Genin teams left."

Kakashi blinked; sure he had heard the blond wrong. "What do you mean; there aren't any teams left?" he asked, letting a bit of killer intent seep into the room, "Last time I took a team, the Sandaime was promising the moon to get the Jounins to agree!" He had to force himself to regulate his anger – while a little killing intent might help his purpose, a lot of it and Konohamaru would burst in the room with the rest of the Hokage's personal guard behind him.

Kakashi used to think the kid was cute, but whoever let the Sandaime's grandson near Maito Gai and Rock Lee clearly had a twisted sense of humor.

"The popularity's increased," Naruto shrugged, "It's peacetime, the Six Nation Alliance keeps the shinobi in check, the Bingo Book's entries decrease by the day and the prospect of a Genin team surviving the Chuunin exams has increased exponentially."

Kakashi had to admit he was right – Konoha's special alliances with Suna and Oto ensured that the rest of the Hidden Villages stayed in line, and the higher life expectancy was a result of nearly sixteen years of unbroken peace. He hadn't even considered the possibility that his request might be _denied_.

"Luckily for you," Naruto continued, "Asuna only agreed due to extenuating circumstances and I'm pretty sure she'd rather stay an independent Jounin than be saddled with a team so soon," Naruto smirked, "She's already learnt her lesson about betting against a Nara."

The weight on Kakashi's chest lifted as Naruto approved his request.

"Is there a particular team you want, or does anything go?" Naruto raised his eyebrows, but it was clear that he already knew Kakashi's answer.

"You know which team I want, Naruto," Kakashi smiled, and thought of the day, nearly nineteen years ago, when he first set eyes on a pink-haired fangirl, an arrogant brat and a loudmouthed idiot.

A wry smile twitched at Naruto's lips as well and Kakashi knew that Naruto was seeing them as well. He respected Naruto's decision to bring his three teammates closer together, but Team Seven was gone.

However, there was nothing stopping him from doing it all again – doing it _right_ this time around.

* * *

The redhead tapped her pencil thoughtfully against her cheek, puzzling out the logic-based question, injecting herself into the scenario. Walking through it with the clues they had given her, she figured out the victim and began writing, explaining the extensive tests they could employ to verify his identity and the exact rules which mentioned his wrongdoing.

Concluding with some thoughtful advice to the interrogators of the "missing nin" she had caught using the evidence of his virtual crime, she moved to the next, and last question of the extensive written portion of the Academy graduation exam.

_Q50. Explain, in depth, the use of the Byakugan by the Hyuuga clan. The Byakugan has helped many notable events in Konoha history – elaborate. _

Unbidden, a shy smile came to her lips as she chanced a quick glance to the front of the room, where a spiky-haired blond sat, hunched over his own paper. His long locks hid his pale, pupilless eyes from view, but she had done enough research on his famous bloodline to recite it by heart.

Starting the long-winded explanation she had memorized in case the blond had ever come to her for training, Takanashi Aneko happily finished an exam paper which was sure to earn her full marks.

* * *

He stared at the two Chuunin instructors that acted as judges, self-consciously rubbing the back of his head. The four Bunshin on either side copied his movements.

The Bunshin was admittedly a difficult jutsu, but his mother had taught him the Henge and explained that turning into someone else was a lot more difficult then recreating himself. Of course, by then his sister had interjected with a snide comment that one of him was more than enough, but he was determined to graduate on his first time.

His sister was a prodigy, of course, and had opted for early graduation, becoming an ANBU mednin at the astonishing age of fifteen. He, however, had mastered the signature Katon of his clan at a much younger age, though that was probably due to the added stress of either dying a painful death at the fangs of a poisonous snake or burning the forest down.

If he failed, however, Miko would _never _let him live it down and he'd probably have to move to Oto to escape her taunting. Hopefully, he'd never be that desperate.

Crossing his fingers behind his back, he fidgeted in tense silence as the Chuunin examined his Bunshin. He hoped they didn't notice that the coloring was off and that one of his Bunshin looked ready to die, another shaking like a leaf.

He barely passed the written exam, thoroughly flopped during the taijutsu section where he tripped over his own sandal and nearly gave himself a concussion, and as a result, needed to produce all three Academy curriculum jutsu to earn himself a hitai-ate.

His Henge was passable – he turned into his little brother, and for a second, he thought the female Chuunin wanted to pinch his cheeks – he pulled off a Kawarimi – substituting himself with a hitai-ate was probably a overly obvious hint – but his Bunshin had to be up to scratch.

The female Chuunin nodded and turned to her partner, who merely glared at him before nodding as if it physically pained him to do so.

Ignoring the man's obvious issues, Uchiha Shisui caught the Konoha hitai-ate that had been thrown at him, and skipped out, intent on celebrating his good luck.

* * *

He scowled as he blocked another punch and retaliated with a Jyuuken strike, closing yet another tenketsu point. His written exam was flawless, his Bunshin and Henge were textbook perfect, and he was easily trumping the pathetic Chuunin that was sparring with him for the taijutsu portion, but he still wasn't satisfied.

While his paper might get full marks, he noticed that a few people had turned in their paper before him, a few people who might reach the level of his scores. His taijutsu part was held back to protect the secrets of the Jyuuken, mostly out of some misguided attempt to gain favor with the Hokage's son. If that wasn't enough to stomach, he had seen the class clown parading outside with a hitai-ate as he was led to a private room to begin the spar.

The Chuunin never stood a chance, he though vindictively as he closed another tenketsu point. Letting all his emotions out through spars had granted him the cold mask of the Hyuuga.

Now, if only his father would be proud of him…

He pointed a decisive strike to the Chuunin's lungs, ignoring the man's gasp of pain as he succumbed to unconsciousness. Bowing to the instructors on the sidelines, he barely held back a snarl as he accepted the headband that should've been his by birthright, walking out of the Academy with the typical Hyuuga grace.

At least his hitai-ate might make his father happy. Over the past few months, his father had been given him increasingly disappointed looks, his mother joining in after a few days. He had no idea why they were looking at him like that, but he was determined to model himself into the best weapon for his father to use, a veritable one-man army. He _would_ surpass the Hokage.

Shinobi were just tools, Uzumaki Minato repeated as he walked home, shinobi were just tools.

* * *

Sentimentally eying the infamous Ichiraku stand – running from the day Konoha was born, Kakashi tried to sort out his thoughts, wondering whether he did the right thing.

Three children would get a damaged, broken, perverted excuse of a ninja for a teacher, and three children might be worse off for it. Maybe it was best to leave the kids in Asuna's care, or another equally capable Jounin…

But then Kakashi remembered – remembered the Sandaime, Homura, Koharu. Remembered Jiraiya, Tsunade, Orochimaru. Remembered Minato, Mikoto and Hizashi. Remembered himself, Rin and Obito. Remembered Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto.

And Kakashi knew that he would do everything to break the curse that Fate had cast upon the unfortunate members of Team Seven.

* * *

**a/n: **this is a story of friendship and courage, teamwork and bravery, the story of every child, the fairy tales and myths, the story of us, of how we were before this cruel world corrupted us.


End file.
